Genuine heartfelt question for the mods

Is ANYONE from kabam, I mean ANYONE, going to engage with the community or are yall done with that now?

I just want to see if it's worth our time to keep checking for any engagement.

Do you guys check the forums or are we all just on our own?

Comments

Sbk

@KabamPinwheel

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Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

We check it every day, I say all the time to give feedback and to give your criticism.

I'm not going to interject if I don't have a meaningful update on anything, and I'm also not going to push back or argue on any feedback given.

Sbk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882536#Comment_2882536

Why not come in and interact?

You were on this side of the aisle at one time. You were here for tough things. Why not show up and engage the community?

You all know the community is in an uproar over too many things to count and the constant silence is giving the appearance of apathy. What are Mike's thoughts on things? How do you feel about the SW situation? Or anything else?

For all of the negative things anyone could say about any past mods, they were present.

They commiserated, they joked, they chatted, they were here. It feels like yall are standing outside the fire and not wanting to engage. In all the years I've been on these forums it has never felt like the mods had less of a presence and I am far from the only one saying this.

"The forum change makes it harder to see us" then be more visible.

TThe game is falling apart and the team that is supposed to connect with we the players and navigate these storms with us is basically non existent for what feels like the first time to this degree.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

Just like all of you, my personal feelings are various colors of frustration for many reasons.

Bluntly, when I come in to chat and joke when I don't have an important update to share, that gets picked apart, and the thread turns hostile. So I tend to refrain from doing so here until I have something important/helpful to share.

I'm working with the Game Team on the connectivity compensation package to try and have that out this week, and some other player-focused Game Updates I can reveal soon, which feels like the best use of time from a Community focus.

BringPopcorn

To be fair, at the current state of the game, if they chimed in to joke I would be pretty pissed

CheeseMaster482

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882543#Comment_2882543

Comp? The big comp? Man I can't believe it's finally happening 🥹. Don't bother with the Spider Woman tears, the comp is 10x more important

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882543#Comment_2882543

I was gonna say maybe you could potentially make a video about your feelings on the topic but that would be directly opposed to your job so I don’t think that'll happen

Searmenis

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882547#Comment_2882547

This. Perfect example of why the game is still full of bugs and the AI untouched.

Sbk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882543#Comment_2882543

Just So you know Mike, and maybe Im in the minority, I dont know, but every time im off the rails raging and feeling completely done with the game and the community, and you chime in it makes things feel better.

Right now I feel seen and heard and what you said in this last reply did volumes towards that. You said more in this post than I have personally seen in any other thread. And although im the first to rage out Im also the first to say thank you.

There Is nowhere else to touch base with you guys. We used to be able to drop in on your or Dave's live streams here and there or engage in YouTube comments, but those channels are gone. I get more upset at the lack of communication or connection than anything and as one of the people with the biggest pention for being an azz-hat when mad I do commit to never attacking you for replying or showing up. Even if what you have to say isn't what I want to hear.

Just remember Mr. Karate, you are the one who can really fill the connection void left by Jax. You are caring and often calm and your voice carries alot of weight when you use it and even more so when you dont.

Thank you for showing up on this thread. Truly, it means the world to some of us who are worried the game we love is dead or dying and really dont want it to be.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

@Sbk really appreciate all of that, dude - means a lot, for real.

DNA3000

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882538#Comment_2882538

Because all too often "engage with the community" is really just a request to be a punching bag for criticism, or alternatively to come here and admit Kabam is wrong like they are supposed to.

On two separate occasions, once long ago and once a lot more recently, unnamed people at Kabam have asked me point blank "why do I do it?" Someone will ask a question, and I use that phrase very loosely, and I will decide to reply and I'll say something like "well, based on my understanding, this is the most likely reason why this is like that" and I will be called stupid, delusional, ridiculous, and completely illogical. Except, that is the actual reasoning that occurred, which I know because I was more or less directly told this in less public discussions. You can imagine how encouraging that is.

"The game is falling apart and the team is non-existent for the first time to this degree" are two different falsehoods. The game is not falling apart any more than it has been falling apart since 2017. And people have been complaining about lack of engagement also more or less continuously for at least as long. The past has always been referenced with rose colored glasses: its always been described as great to try to make the point that it is so much worse now, except at no point in the past were people not saying that exact same thing.

At the end of the day, each developer and community person is different, and each approaches community engagement differently, and on their own terms. But if there's a common denominator across all of them, it is that a) they don't want to enter discussions when they don't have something specific to say, and say in a way that won't get them backed into a corner, and b) no one wants to be told the only problem that exists is they can't admit they are wrong, and if only they did so everything would be so much better. If they don't understand this originally, they figure it out eventually. It took Jax only a few months.

The truth is I do what I do because a) I'm willing to take shots from the many to reach the few, and b) I've been on the internet since 1985 so my soul is already a blackened stone that is impervious to insult and injury. But the toll most internet game forums take on normal humans is generally unsustainable. The question is not why I do it. The real question is why anyone else does.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882550#Comment_2882550

Dude you literally went off over a 4.99 supply drop sale and sent people to go gargle on things lol....

Sbk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882555#Comment_2882555

Yeah...thats fair. Hadn't had my coffee yet.

It was funny though 😉

IIn all seriousness, most anger comes from something else. In my case it was false expectations, and fear.

False expectations because I had ,for no reasonable reason, expected today to get something interesting about the zombie gifting thing, or maybe some sort of comp, or something. What I did not expect was to be presented an offer with a price tag for something that has traditionally been a free bonus to the community. Given the state of relations between kabam and the base I was shocked, saddened, and angry to see that pop up with nothing else. Again, that is all 100% on me and my own brain and has nothing to do with reality. So I made the choice to go off the rails. And I hope a few laughs were had.

And fear. The big one for a lot of us.

Fear that the game I have loved and been deeply ingrained with for a decade is dying. Fear that Kabam truly no longer cares about the player. Fear that P2W is out of hand with no coming back. Fear that no one who can do anything about it even cares.

I get that I act up and 90% of it is for humor and shock value and 10% is because im pissed and dont care about the repercussions in the moment.

But the truth is I actually care about this game and the community and my heart breaks at how much less fun the game is today than it has been in the past and im just afraid kabam doesnt really care.

Hit the disagrees, send out the usual boot lickers to tear me down, I dont care, im just putting it out there raw and vulnerable

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882563#Comment_2882563

Good for you, as long as you care they have a chance to make it better. I don't care anymore. My ingane screentime has been less than 2 hours last week and thats counting time with scren on iddle after auto playing a daily.

I see aeguments about the game dying or not, I don't care if it dies at this point.

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882552#Comment_2882552

I think for alot of the community, we haven't felt like it's karatemike behind the zemo pfp, just Kabam Osaurus Rex which has been rough.

It's just nice to know the dinosaur didn't fully consume you.

TotemCorruption

Damn, Kabam needs to add "therapist" and "father figure" to its community manager job description (and perk the salary accordingly).

Sbk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882572#Comment_2882572

There they are.

Back For more gargling? You are INSATIABLE tiger.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882567#Comment_2882567

I think that's super fair and can understand why that would be frustrating/rough.

I try to be myself as much as possible, but I can see there being more room for candid responses

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882573#Comment_2882573

Dude you posted a long vile attack against all kabam employees this morning, which was so bad it got deleted by the mods (which is saying a lot for this wasteland forum).

But now someone from Kabam acknowledges your existence and you get all lovey dovey.

Look in the mirror, it's pretty disturbing/pathetic.

Sbk

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882577#Comment_2882577

Apparently Taking ownership is a foreign concept for you. But, alas it's not for me. I am more than capable of owning misdirected rage and anger, most relating to lack of communication.

Im Sorry if the big words I use, like ownership, are too many syllables for you to decipher (that means to figure out).

I feel I have clarified (sorry big word, I know) where my anger comes from and the fact Mike took the time to communicate put a salve on that and led to more reflection (im so sorry, I know, i know, trying to put it in crayons for you).

I rage posted. Got a consequence (sorry big word again), reflected, and chose to communicate more effectively. (That means talk better without so much grumpy).

But everything said to you I stick by. You are a troll and for some reason I keep feeding you. Guess thats my bad but gargle on.

Usagicassidy

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex you guys have to know that the community is in perhaps one of its most volatile eras ever and without any acknowledgment about our Spider-Woman grievances, you must know that the Friday livestream is about to be a Sh— storm, right? Are you just going to do a livestream with comments completely disabled? Cause for how 'respectful' the forums try to be… the comments are not. I fear you guys aren't going to be able to handle the vitriol sent your way.

CheeseMaster482

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882591#Comment_2882591

"Respectful" lol, the forums got grown ahh men changing their pfp to Spider Womid crying and cussing out kabam because she got nerfed. Idk about that man

Usagicassidy

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882602#Comment_2882602

I put it in quotes because a lot of us are, and the whiny idiot crybabies are less frequent - compare that to the comments of a twitch stream which have literally had to be shut down because tons of people started mocking literal Kabam employees? Yes… there's a difference.

klobberintyme

I mean this in the most upfront way, but Mike - you know about this?

https://jobs.lever.co/kabam/cae3f21c-881a-4d20-a669-91b57606d0c0

I know I felt a certain way back in the day when I'd see something close to my job description on my company's sites. Just curious, sounds like it'd be perfect for someone with your background. Awful pay though…

TotemCorruption

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882621#Comment_2882621

Jesus man, I know we can all have criticisms of the game and certain decisions, but going after someone personally like this? Are you proud of what you look like? Especially since you sound like a grown man instead of some snot-nosed teenager.

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882621#Comment_2882621

Social media manager is not even close to what Mike's job is.

Also i cant believe im saying this but I agree with totem. Disgusting behavior

klobberintyme

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882629#Comment_2882629

The job description literally reads like what Mike used to do, as far as content creation and responsibilities. If this is what Dave was supposed to be doing, and Mike was offered a shot but passed, that's one thing. What I took exception to is the mashing of an analyst role into the social media manager role - two different skillsets at two different paygrades. When I was a senior analyst back in 2011 I was at $125k base. I think this listing as worded illustrates the larger issues Kabam has, in that they're trying to shoehorn too many responsibilities with too little manpower.

klobberintyme

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882631#Comment_2882631

It clearly came across wrong. Apologies. It looked an awful lot like some of what Mike used to do, and looks a lot more engaging on paper than manning a message board. No offense to those who man message boards.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2882638#Comment_2882638

You're fine, dude - I didn't read it negatively

I think a major misconception here is thinking my job consists of "manning a message board," haha
That's maybe the 10th thing on my daily list

I do a lot, and a lot of it isn't always seen publicly, so naturally, I understand why it would seem that way